Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Secondary Education

Secondary education encompasses the years between elementary school and college, with curricula ranging from language arts, social studies, and mathematics to vocational and physical education. RAND conducts research on secondary education throughout the world, exploring such topics as the role of sports and physical education, programs that improve reading, the effects of school choice on academic achievement, and school-based drug prevention and education programs, among others.

New York City grade retention policies had little influence on student misbehavior and absenteeism. But retained students averaged fewer high school credits. Retention in earlier grades appears less likely to produce disadvantageous outcomes.

Louisiana has received attention for some of its new education policies and promising early results. Its strategies for improving education quality and student outcomes offer lessons for schools nationwide.

This toolkit is a companion to School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: An Evidence Review. The authors provide guidance and tools for designing and conducting evaluations of school leadership interventions.

More rest improves teens' well-being, public safety, and academic performance. Later school start times promote better sleep for teens. School districts, communities, and parents should consider multi-pronged strategies that start with a later school bell.

This guide describes six types of school leadership interventions, summarizes common components of evidence-based interventions, and unpacks the relationships between the intervention activities and student outcomes.

The Every Student Succeeds Act gives states and districts new opportunities to invest in school leadership. Looking at the evidence base on school leadership interventions can help inform policymakers' decisions.

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe is a residential, quasi-military program for young people at risk of dropping out of high school. This report provides information on recent ChalleNGe participants and develops metrics of program success.

Summarizes lessons from RAND's interim evaluation of the Opportunity by Design initiative and provides a number of recommendations that may be of interest to schools and districts implementing or considering implementation of similar approaches.

Opportunity by Design (ObD) uses innovative design principles like personalized instruction to help prepare students for postsecondary success. RAND's interim report on ObD lays out how these principles are implemented in schools, their strengths, and early challenges.

School start times are becoming a hotly debated topic across the United States. Starting middle and high schools at 8:30 a.m. would improve teen health, and the economic benefits of this shift would likely outweigh the costs.

A state-by-state analysis (in 47 states) of the economic implications of a shift in school start times in the U.S., shows that a nationwide move to 8.30 a.m. could contribute $83 billion to the U.S. economy within a decade. These gains would be realized through higher academic and professional performance, and reduced car crash rates.

Moving school start times to 8:30 a.m. could contribute $83 billion to the U.S. economy within a decade. These gains would come from higher academic and professional performance, and reduced car crash rates.

This report examines the representativeness of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program at the school level with respect to geography and demographics and determines how federal laws and policies affect JROTC units.

Sleep-deprived teens are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle crashes and to abuse drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes — all of which are public health concerns. But delaying school start times remains challenging for many districts.

In addition to restoring Mosul's damaged infrastructure, efforts to stabilize the city must include a plan to rebuild education. Students need to make up years of missed K-12 and university education, and ISIS indoctrination needs to be undone.

Teacher shortages could be a real threat in Cambridgeshire, unless larger numbers of secondary school teachers are attracted and retained. There are simply too few new teachers replacing those who retire, with this gap being even more pronounced in STEM subjects.

The Second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE2) follows more than 13,000 pupils as they move on from compulsory education and begin their career paths, providing detailed insights into their background, choices and lives from the ages of 13/14 to 19/20.

This pilot evaluation of Startup Tech assesses whether 12th-grade students experienced either improved self-efficacy or changes in their college and career plans during the year in which they were in the program.

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Elaine Lin Wang is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on the measurement of the quality of literacy instruction and learning, and teachers' and principals' sensemaking of policy initiatives and how that influences their practice. She specializes in using…

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